Internal four-cycle combustion engine



vJune'Z, 1925. 1,540,594

J. J. BlscHoFF INTERNALE FOUR-CYCLE GOMUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 8. 1922Patented June 2l, 1925.,

unirse isjr.airtra TENT F.FliifE.

.INTERNAL reina-CYCLE coMBus'rIoN ENGINE.

application fined December s, 11922. serial No.1e059s.

To all fic/1.10m t -mag/ concern:

Be it known that-I, -JAN JACOB Bisoi-rorii, a citizen 4ot the vrlingfdomor the .Netherlands, Dutch East Indies, residingv at Madioen, Java,Dutch East Ind-ies, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inInternal Four-Cycle Combustion Engines, of which 'the following is yaspecification.

There `are Aknown internal combustion engines in which .severalcylinders of equal dimensions `are arranged side :by side and` aredirectly connected to eachother so that the aetion'of such an engine'corresponds lto the action 1of Vaone-cylinder engine, the piston `areaof which 'is equal to the itojtal or aggregate piston area of -themulti-cylinder engine. The transmission oI power from the"various'cylinders 'to the crank is indirect, by uneans of a common"connecting -rod 'o ordinary construction, and -the direction eof 'the`crank sha-ft is fat Eright angles -to a Vline drawn through lthecentres of the cylinders.

-fln afl-stroke engineoflthis type, the total quantity 'of lcombustible`mixture or gas contained in the various cylinder-s yis exploded at 'theYsame time, lthat is, once ffor 'each rtwo revolutions, so that uthecrank shaft, ythe searrings, theconnecting rods and other parts mustbeconstructed lat leastas strongas in 'a `one-cylinder engine of ythesame power. The quantity oit' reciprocating masses rcmains 'the same,and 'there is -no advantage as regards 'balancing of the `masses incomparison with a one-cylinder engine.

Moreover, `it is impossible gto arrange the groups of cylinders radiallyin star-t, or `circle-formatiom as the position of the c ank shaitrenders such an arrangement impossible. The number of moving parts isalso higher than in a one-cylinder engine, the manufacture is moreexpensive and the consumption ot fuel is higher; only the coolingsurface and the space economy are greater than in a one-cylinder engine.

The engine forming the subject of the present invention is provided withthree cylinders arranged side by side, the dimensions of the cylindersbeing, however, different. On each side of a large cylinder is arrangeda cylinder oi' half the power of the large middle cylinder. Only thesmall cylinders are connected with each other so that their operation isindependent of the operation of the middle cylinder and the controllinggear may be arranged in such a manner that during the suction period ofthe middle cylinder, the mixture or gas in the other two cylinders isexploded, or vice versa. In this manner, 'for each two revolutions twoexplosions' centrally ,transmitted upon one crank are'o'btained, or oneexplosion Yper revolution as in a one cylinder two-cycle motor. y

An Vengine constructed'according to the invention vis thereforefathree-cylinder engine having a two-cylinder feriect, while the known.three-.cylinder engines .produce only a one-cylinder effect.

.It will-be understood 'that the running-of the improved engine will bemuch more uniform than Athat of the known three-cylinder engine, andthat in addition the weights of the moving part and consequently alsothe masses will ybe smaller and that, for instance, the connecting rodneed not be considerably stronger than one 'sufficient for the middlecylinder only;

It" several groups of cylinders are used only one cran-k is required,the crank shaft being -parallelfto a 'line drawn through the centres ofthe cylinders, whereby a further saving in cranks, connecting rods,`bearings and other Iiparts is effected as compared with the knownsystems. Moreover, the vbalancing of the parts is considerably easier.

@ne .construction embodying the features offthe invention is shown byWay of example 4in tthe Yaconm-panyingdrawings in which Fio'. 4'l isasectional elevation of ian engine having three cylindersgglilig is asection on line YAEE in Fig. 1,; Figf Yaplan corresponding to l, andFig. 4` an elevation showing motor having two groups of cylindersarranged in YV-formation.

l is the middle cylinder, the capacity of which is double that of thetwo side cylinders 2. The two cylinders 2 are in communication through apassage 3; 4L and 5 are the pistons, 6 are the piston rods which arerotatably mounted in the pistons; 7 is the piston rod of the cylinder l,which is designed as a connecting rod, the piston rods 6 being pivotedto a cross arm of the cross shaped rod 7 8 is a crank shaft, 9 is thecrank and 10 is the crank case.

In contradistinction to lthe known systems, the transmission of powerfrom the cylinders to the crank 9 is eected directly by means of thecross shaped piston or connecting rod 7, the lateral piston rods beingconnected to the lateral arms of an eXtension of the middle piston rod,which alone is connected to the crank shaft by means of an ordina-ryconnecting rod. The ignition of the combustible mixture or gas in thecylinders is so arranged that while the gas or combustible mixture isdrawn for instance into the middle cylinder7 ignition takes place at thesame time in the two lateral cylinders which communicate with eachother. This may be effected by means of a two-cylinder magnet.`

Owing to the fact that the explosions in the t-wo lateral cylindersoccur at the same time, any detrimentally acting moment upon the crossshaped piston or connecting lrod 7 is avoided, whereas such moments mayeasily occur with Vcylinders having separate magnets. Obviouslyanydesired number of cylinder groups may be used side by side with cranksunder 180, 120, 90,

- etc., for two, three, four, etc., cylinder groups.

Fig. 4 shows an arrangementin which two groups are used in V-formation.If each group be composed of three-cylinders, a six-cylinder engine willbe obtained which produces a four-cylinder effect, namely fourexplosions per two revolutions or two explosions for each revolution,all acting upon the same crank.

With three groups, each having three cylinders, a Ynine-cylinder enginewill be obtained having a six-cylinder effect, that is, three explosionsper revolution, and so on.

It will be understood that in this manner, the number of explosions perrevolution may be considerably increased by suitably grouping thecylinders, whereby very uniformly running engines may be built having avery small fuel consumption, light construct-ion and small numberofmoving parts, together' with a very considerable cooling surface andrequiring a very small space.

For smallmotors with al cross shaped connector in one part, asdescribed, it is necessary that the crankshaft be placed parallel to theline which connects the centers of the cylinder circles of the samehorizontal plane of section. For large motors wherein, asusual, acrosshead is added be tween the piston-rod and the connector, thecrosshead pin (gudgeon) is lengthened on both sides to both .crossarmsWhile in this case the oscillating movement of the pistonrods is changedto a straight movement, it is also possible to place the crankshaft atright angles to the motorblock. The crossarms on both sides are builtfor this arrangement on the sliders of the crosshead with a long andnarrow (oblong) opening in the slides.

I claim as my invention 1. An internal four-cycle combustion enginecomprising a casing having cylinders arranged therein, said cylinderscomprising a central cylinder and two side cylinders; a crank shaft insaid casing; a piston in said central cylinder and having a piston rodoperatively secured at one end to said crank shaft; a cross arm on saidpiston rod intermediate the ends thereof; and a piston in each ofvsaidside cylinders and having a piston rod secured at one end to said crossarm, said piston in said central cylinder being adapted to produce apower 'stroke alternately with the power ystroke of the pistons of saidside cylinders.

2. An internal four-cycle combustion engine comprising a casing havingcylinders arranged therein, said cylinders comprising a central cylinderand two side cylinders; a crank shaft in said casing; a piston in saidcentral cylinder and having a piston rod operatively secured at one endto said crank shaft; a cross arm on said piston rod intermediate theends thereof; a passage connecting said side cylinders together; andpistons for said side cylinders having piston rods connected to saidcross arm.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

J AN JACOB BISCHOFF.

